Dallyings of a Dalish
by LiluyeAsala
Summary: Little insights into the thoughts of one Solange Lavellan as she deals with a certain Seeker of the Chantry. A collection of drabbles in the second person. Updated in sets of 3.
1. Hair, Burning, Cyphers

I do not own Dragon Age.

this is an ongoing series of drabbles. They're being posted first on tumblr (onceuponakatie) and then here/Archive of Our Own (LiluyeAsala). If you like them, let me know! I'm going to post them in sets of 3 here.

* * *

**i: Hair**

Her hair is soft. Much softer than you expected. Not that you were expecting anything, because did humans do that? Expect things to be one way? You think they might, because humans and elvhen are not so different, but you have no way to be positive. You suppose you could ask her, but that would probably be looked upon as odd.

Besides, you would much rather play with it than analyze it anyways, which is a rare occurrence. It is short and dark and soft like a baby fern, while you expected it to be rough like pine. She never seems to mind when you play with her hair. You wonder if that is a human thing too, but eventually you decipher that it is just her, because the bard reacted quite strongly when you asked to see the braid in her hair.

Humans are strange creatures. You like them though.

**ii: Burning**

Her eyes are much warmer than they were when you first met. You remember that day - the lightning, the explosions, the demons, darkness and pain and then firelight and the Seeker of the Chantry, who looked at you with eyes like chips of hard amber and a barely repressed snarl.

She disliked you back then, because of what the Fade did to you. Also, because you were a mage. But mostly because of the demon hand, which you have to cover with a glove because secretly it burns and it looks awful and you would rather blend in a bit more. She disliked you, and you didn't realize it because you never understood elvhen behavior well, let alone human behavior. You always brought her along on the missions the sweet diplomat girl always brought up, because the Seeker was strong, and because you couldn't understand why she wouldn't look you in the eye or why she would argue so much about your remedies for solutions - remedies involving magic.

Now the chips of amber look at you more openly. You and she are friends now, you think, and she does not look to your demon hand as much as she once did. You don't either - you find it is much less difficult to ignore the inner burn of it.

(The burn of your cheeks distracts you sufficiently.)

**iii: Cyphers**

The human language is very strange to write and read. What manner of cyphers did they use? You were so embarrassed the first time someone asked you to look at a paper - how silly and dumb you must have looked, a grown woman not knowing how to read a simple paper!

You remember asking the diplomat for help, but she had no time in her busy schedule to tutor an inconsequential thing - surely someone could just read things for you. The bard was so good at hiding when she didn't want to be found, you didn't bother to look, and the others were under the impression that you were "pulling their leg" or "yanking their chain". (You have never tugged on any manner of chain in your life, much less one that someone owned, and pulling someone's leg sounds rather painful.)

She believed you, though, she of all people and offered to teach you. She was reluctant then, and even you - the socially inept elf - knew she asked only out of courtesy and would not have done so had you been just an apostate and not the Inquisitor everyone deferred to.

She was so patient, though, and taught you out of a thick book with a bare, broad chested man on the cover. You learned to read words like "love" and "strong" and "slick" and "thrust" and "wanton" and only after you grasped the basics of the human cyphers did you realize just what she had been teaching you out of. You remember stuttering your words with a cherry red face the day you pieced it together, and the next day she brought you a different book with words like "cat" and "bat" and "my name is".

You saw her smile that day. It was a guilty, self aware smile, but nevertheless a smile. You liked that day.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this first set. If you want to see them more instantaneously, they are posted to Tumblr/Ao3 as well.


	2. Words, Custom, Laughter

I do not own Dragon Age.

If you'd like, you can prompt me on tumblr with a chapter title :) just a thought.

hope you enjoy xx

* * *

**iv: Words**

Once you get past the harsh shell, the Seeker is a skilled conversationalist. Nobody would have thought (or at least, you wouldn't have thought) she could carry a conversation so well, but she did. You and her (and the other elf as well) had a rollicking conversation about fighting - she defending the sword and Sera rooting for the bow and you advocating for magic. Her eyes were sparkling and she argued every point like a champion - like the one in the handwritten tome with the drawings of the apostate with blue eyes and a lady pirate that you found in her bookshelf once. (It has a stab mark through half of it. You wonder why.)

You think it was more fun to watch her talk than to win the argument for yourself, and later after a few tankards of the odd delicious stuff Sera calls "mead" you faintly remember someone hoisting you over their shoulder and hearing Sera say something about how 'the googly eyes were downright sappy'. You aren't quite sure what either googly eyes or sappy means, but your headache in the morning made you forget about the phrase quickly.

**v: Custom**

Her lips are soft too. You found this out at the Orlesian ball - of course there was no tryst or intense admission of love that seems to happen in all of the books you have been given by Varric. It was just a custom for a majority of the people in attendance - so everyone did it. A little press of the lips to the cheek as you greet someone and as you bid them farewell.

Humans were odd, and you find yourself disliking the custom greatly. Why kiss on the cheek when there is a forehead, or a mouth? Foreheads are for children to be kissed by their parents and brothers and sisters, but mouths...they are vacant, are they not? Orlesian customs confuse you and frustrate you and give you a little pit of burning irritability low in your stomach, but you did get one good thing out of the evening: she may not have said too much about it, but you saw her eyes widen when you entered the ball with Josephine announcing her as "Madame Inquisitor Solange Lavellan, Craftsmaster and Enchanter of the Dales".

A fancy title and a fancy dress - too much for your tastes, but if you get that reaction from her when you wear things like this, maybe you might do it more often. To wear things that make it a bit harder to breathe, but accentuate your chest and minimize your waist... Another odd human tradition, but you didn't mind seeing the other women wear them that evening either.

**vi: Laughter**

Her laughter is your favorite thing to hear, you decide. It is a rare thing, but on occasion something you do or say will coax a little chuckle (or Creators save you, a giggle) from the Seeker. Usually it is when you do something ridiculous like ask a merchant whether the bee nest under his stall is available for purchase (you did not realize humans do not sell bees! It feels like a missed opportunity to you) or when you try to walk in the 'heels' Vivienne-of-Iron loaned you to practice "being civilized" in public (you fell a lot. Most of the time it was on top of people).

The first time she laughed at you, but then you laughed too and everything seemed alright.

You twisted your ankle that day, trying to walk in Vivienne's torture devices, but it was okay because the large qunari who you have a sisterly fondness for carried you home atop his shoulders and you could see the entire world from up there, and you and he and she returned home to the Keep all smiling - she because of you and you because of she. And Bull smiled because of the mayhem that happened earlier in the tavern.

(It aches a bit to feel like a sister again after what happened to your brother, but this time you know Iron Bull will not be brought down as easily as your brother had been. No illness could vanquish him.)


End file.
